Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen a couple pretty nasty collisions on the basketball court. 

Both happened in Charlo. Both players got in a fight with something hard... and lost.

One received a concussion and had to sit out for a week. The other I have to name because she has the best battle wound I’ve ever seen. Last Thursday, Arlee’s Bryndle Goyins collided with a Charlo player and the floor just minutes into the game. She left the game and didn’t come back in. After being checked out for a concussion and passing, she suited up the next night against Two Eagle River. She had the best black eye I have ever seen. She looked super tough.

Anyways, concussions have became a huge topic in the last few years. Everytime you watch football you hear the announcers talking about it, and with the release of the movie about concussions in the NFL, it’s been a hot topic.

Back in my day (2008) we didn’t have any sort of tests for concussions. My freshman year I got knocked out and I still played the next night. Probably not the smartest idea. Maybe that’s why I can’t spell very good anymore.

A few years later, a friend from down the road at NorthStar (Rudyard-Hingham-Kremlin-Gilford) got hit in the temple during a basketball game against Highwood. She seemed fine, until that night when her parents tried to wake her up to check on her. They couldn’t get her to respond. As it turned out, she had bleeding on her brain from that hit. They had to drill a hole in her skull to release the pressure. Luckily, she came away without any lasting impact. Others haven’t been so lucky, including a football player from Belt who went down during a game a few years back. He is still recovering, and just recently got to return home.

After the incident with the NorthStar girl, I started noticing more precautions taken by coaches and the Montana High School Association.

It’s good that schools are paying attention to these things. As high school aged students, I’m sure athletes aren’t thrilled to be taken out of a game even if they think they’re fine. I know I wasn’t.

However, I’d like to give University of Montana Griz football player Ryan Burke a shout out for taking care of himself. I don’t know how many people are familiar with his story, but he’s the kid that donated his bone marrow to a cancer patient who needed it. It also made him miss some football. Last week, he officially hung up his cleats. After at least five concussions, Burke decided to give football up to save his future. I’m sure it was a hard decision for him, but he’s a good example for athletes everywhere. There are things more important than sports.